Today marks the birthday of the Dept. of Energy, established by congress in 1977 to: The Congress therefore declares that the establishment of a Department of Energy is in the public interest and will promote the general welfare by assuring coordinated and effective administration of Federal energy policy and programs. It is the purpose of this chapter: (1) To establish a Department of Energy in the executive branch. (2) To achieve, through the Department, effective management of energy functions of the Federal Government, including consultation with the heads of other Federal departments and agencies in order to encourage them to establish and observe policies consistent with a coordinated energy policy, and to promote maximum possible energy conservation measures in connection with the activities within their respective jurisdictions. (3) To provide for a mechanism through which a coordinated national energy policy can be formulated and implemented to deal with the short-, mid- and long-term energy problems of the Nation; and to develop plans and programs for dealing with domestic energy production and import shortages. (4) To create and implement a comprehensive energy conservation strategy that will receive the highest priority in the national energy program. To anyone wanting the feds to have an "energy policy" might recall that old adage about getting what you wish for.
Over three decades later, and who knows how many billions of tax dollars, and they never got past step one. Typical federal government.
They can only do what the congress asks them to do. And that changes every year. The budget for DOE is always filled with earmarks that have nothing to do with energy. But some DOE funded researches have reached huge market values. You just don't know about them. Look at all the different kinds of LED night lights today sold in Walmart. Only a few years ago the only nightlights you could buy were the 4 watt ones. Today the LED nightlights are 0.1 to 0.4 watts. Look at your ipod, your iphone, and your laptop (yes, the research on spintronics that won last year's Nobel Prize in physics was funded by DOE). There are many others.